Thank you,
thank you!It takes a huge
amount of work, and a huge amount of enthusiastic support, to maintain
this most active inspirational and educational radio station.

During the
summer, we are especially needed, as families leave their villages for
even more remote points to fish, hunt and gather berries and other
tundra plants to put food on the table for winter.For thousands of folks in these incredibly isolated spots, a
battery radio playing KNOM is their only contact with the outside world.

For your
friendship, your help and your prayers, we honor you.We pray for you, those you love and your intentions every day.May God grant you His peace, strength and many, many blessings.

HE’S BACK! (left) 2005-07 volunteer
news reporter Jesse Zink returned to KNOM in July to help out for the
summer.

For the
past two years, he has volunteered at a medical mission in Mthatha,
South Africa.

By virtue
of his skin color and perceived wealth, in Mthaha, he always stood out.

“Now,” Jesse says, “I am just
part of the crowd, which has been a relatively easy adjustment to make.”Next month, Jesse moves on to study theology at Yale University.Thank you, Jesse!

39TH YEAR:July 14th at 4:30 PM, KNOM began the mission’s 39th year.In that time, we’ve endured financial crises, fires, our tower
nearly destroyed by an airplane and repeatedly by ice and120 MPH winds,
blizzard after blizzard, two “hundred year” floods, frequent autumn
storms with the intensity of hurricanes, the list is almost endless.

Thanks to a
dedicated, hardworking staff, and especially thanks to good people like
you, KNOM’s managed to always be there for our listeners, with messages
of hope and encouragement and prayer.May the station enjoy many, many more.

(Left, July 14, 1971, Bishop Robert Whelan, SJ,
pushes the tape recorder's remote PLAY button, starting KNOM's first
program. The prerecorded hour-long show is produced by volunteer
Tom Busch.

REAL “HARD” NEWS:(left)Many of our friends have wondered about the Sailor Boy Pilot
Bread hardtack we mentioned in the most recent
Nome Static.

In Studio
A, public affairs director Laureli Kinneenshows off one of the hardy crackers.They keep forever, are practically indestructible, and are a
staple of the western Alaska diet. You’ll find them in the KNOM coffee
nook.

Q AND A:We welcome questions from you about our mission.Here are a couple we’ve received:

What is your
mission’s purpose?

Our signal
serves many needs.Among
them, the need for Catholics to worship with the Mass — most villages
which receive us see a priest rarely, or never.

We serve an
educational need.

We provide
discussion on topics of regional interest, such as solutions for
suicide, homicide, accidental deaths, child abuse, alcoholism and rape,
which occur at rates that are multiple times the U.S. average.

Behind
Lynette, you can see a collection of photos of KNOM contributors and
their families.

Originally
from Fall River, Massachusetts, and then Bainbridge Island, Washington,
Lynette was a KNOM volunteer from 1982 to 1985.

She was
attracted to the KNOM mission by her older brother, Normand Berger, a
Brother of Christian Instruction who was the mission’s chief engineer.Initially, she produced spots, then served as news director for
two years.She married
1984-85 volunteer Ric Schmidt.They left Nome, before Ric returned as program director in 1995,
becoming general manager in 2005.

Like
several others on the KNOM staff, she is an amateur radio operator, with
the call sign KLØWC.

Today,
Lynette is on the front lines of KNOM’s finances, and processes many of
your contributions that keep the mission’s signal strong.

(Left) In 1982, three siblings are volunteering for KNOM.
From left, Bro. Normand Berger, FIC, Lynette Berger and Damien Berger.

CAREFUL: (Left)Former general manager
Tom Busch gently services one of the AM transmitter’s power modules
during annual maintenance in July.

Last month,
Tom was elected co-chair of the Alaska Public Broadcasting Commission.

FORTY YEARS AGO: Fresh out of Boston College,
Annie Legan, RN, and Jeannie Stoklosa, RN, fly to Nome to become support
nurses for the mission, working at Nome’s hospital and donating their
incomes to the Catholic radio project.Their gifts are dedicated to paying for the future radio
station’s tower.

(Left) A bronze plaque on the base of KNOM's
AM tower commemorates Annie's and Jeannie's gifts.

THIRTY YEARS AGO: August 1979 sees three
pivotal new individuals.
From Salmon, Idaho, Timothy Cochran arrives to volunteer for three
years.He returns in 1985 to
serve for ten years as chief engineer.

(Left) About 1985, Timothy works on KNOM's
emergency studio generator, a relic of World War II.

Another
arriving volunteer is hardworking Eric Gabster, fromLos Angeles, who also gives three volunteer years to the mission.He is described by Fr. Louis L. Renner, SJ as “the kind of guy
who shovels the steps and takes out the trash when nobody’s looking.”

Also new,
from Alfred, Maine, is Br. Ray Berube, FIC (left), a Brother of
Christian Instruction.
Though his arthritis is aggravated by cold weather, Br. Ray endures
eleven tough years as the mission’s building maintenance chief.

TWENTY YEARS AGO:August 8, 1989, following a visit to Nome, where he stays with
the KNOM volunteers, Our Sunday
Visitor editor Fr. Owen Campion writes of the KNOM mission in his
weekly column “it is a treasure of Catholic evangelization in the United
States.”

Eleven days
later, from Odenton, Maryland, Ross Tozzi is among the new Jesuit
Volunteer crew.Ross
volunteers for three years, the last two as a support volunteer, his
wages providing a significant portion of the funds needed to construct
the new volunteer dormitory in 1992.

Next month, watch for a new photo of now Father Ross, new pastor
for Nome's St. Joseph parish.

TEN YEARS AGO:In August 1999, KNOM reports that the Federal Aviation
Administration has issued a Notice to Airmen warning of reindeer on the
Nome runway.On the 13th, a
grizzly bear cub is sighted at 3rd and Division Streets, two blocks from
the KNOM studio, the first time anyone can remember a brown bear in
downtown Nome.

NEW ARRIVAL:
(Left) A hardy tundra flower blooms July 15th a foot from the KNOM
AM tower.

We repeat our longstanding pledge to you that we
will never give your name and address to anyone, for any reason.